Trump tells Fifa president US will not bar Iran from participating in this year's World Cup

AMERICA is not going to bar Iran from participating in this year's World Cup taking place in North America in the summer despite the ongoing war between the two nations according to Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Late last month, war broke out between Iran on the one hand and the US/Israel on the other when Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni was killed in an air strike. These US-Israeli strikes on February 28, threw into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US.

Iran has already warned that it may pull out of the World Cup if its three group games are all scheduled to take place in the US. Also, the presence of Iran at the competition has been questioned as the security of their players can cannot be guaranteed in what will be a hostile environment.

Already, the conflict has escalated with Iran hitting back at US and Israeli assets in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Saudi Arabia to further compromise security in the Middle East. However, despite rising tensions, US president Donald Trump, who started the war, has said that Iran is welcome to participate at World Cup in North America.

Mr Infantino, who revealed President Trump's stance earlier today following a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, said they also spoke about the current situation in Iran. He took to Instagram to say: “During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.”

Yesterday, Iran’s federation football chief Mehdi Taj, cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian cup in Australia. He said: “If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?”

At the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, five players from Iran’s team defected, seeking political asylum. These five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials.

According to local Australian media, at least two more team members applied to stay later in the day.  While the World Cup is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the US, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle and the Iranian authorities will be hoping to avoid a repeat of these embarrassing defections.